ASLU 053: Creative Canadian Women - Multi-Buisness Entrepreneur Steph Todd
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Melissa chats with self-described serial entrepreneur Steph Todd about her multiple business ventures, including her well-known blog Meal Plan Addict. Steph shares how she gets it all done, how she manages her mental health challenges and the importance of building a supportive network around her.
This is a great episode for those who run (or want to run) more than one business, who struggle with managing all the things, who need honest conversations around mental health, who feel icky about selling or who simply need a dose of real talk and creative inspiration from other creative Canadian women.
Stephanie Todd is the creator of the website mealplanaddict.com which she started in 2016 as a hobby. As a project manager in the Alberta healthcare field with a long commute (Steph has a bachelors degree in neuroscience and a masters degree in bio-medical technology) and as a new mom to a young daughter, Steph was in a constant state of motion. When she discovered the concept of meal planning and meal prep she fell in love and it became a weekly form of self-care for her. Soon she wanted so shout from the rooftop, to anyone who was interested, how meal planning was changing her life!
She started a Facebook group to share what she was learning and mastering with others but, it was when her husband bought her the domain name that she took the plunge and started her website. And then… she got an idea for a very simple product - that went on to make her 10s of thousands of dollars and was shipped to every province, state and territory in North America.
Since then she has gone on to create other products for her website. But that’s not all! Steph has partnered up with others in recent years to become a franchisee co-owner, start a boutique consulting firm that helps other Canadian small business owners and, most recently launch an urban veggie farm company. In 2019 she left the medical field to become a full-time entrepreneur with her website and her other endeavours.
If you just want the links to the resources mentioned in this episode, scroll down to the bottom.
Listen To the Episode
Here’s a direct link to Episode 53 - or you can listen via the players below:
learning to fail is a skill you need to master
entrepreneurial challenges we cover
In this episode we talk about:
the importance of relationships and building trust
how entrepreneurship is about solving problems
how building trust with a community that follows you work is the key to building a successful business of people who buy from you
the importance of developing relationships with other business owners helps you expand, grow and pursue new ventures
the importance of taking calculated risks and being ok with failing
different business models for selling physical products
the importance of leveraging people who know things you don’t (and even partnering with them where appropriate)
how you can’t do it all - you will need to hire help to run multiple businesses
evaluating potential business ideas to see which ones have potential
when you’re running multiple businesses, you need to have a passion for them and what they can bring to the world
selling without being, or feeling, icky
caring for, and protecting your mental health. Steph opens up about her struggles with anxiety and managing her expectations
you need to build a support network around you to survive: family support, friend support and business mentors and friends
working smarter is just as, if not more so, important than working hard
don’t be afraid to set boundaries - you’re not going to miss out and it will make the work you do, more intentional
learning to delegate frees up your time to do other things - like form a new business or start a new hobby or earn more revenue
Mentioned In This Episode
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